Sunday, December 2, 2012

Miss Matchy Matchy

Sometimes I get tired of certain J.Crew "look" that is trying very hard to have unusual color and pattern matching. I feel like all those 'unexpected' touches became predictable and overused. It has been done so often that I am expecting bed-hair or motorcycle boots with a pretty party dress, and the only thing that seems to go with Chanel-esque
jacket anymore is a pair of ripped boyfriend jeans and pointy stilettos.

Suddenly, the rebel in me wants to match my purse with my shoes and pick up the most obvious solid color to wear with patterned blouse. I don't want to borrow anything from the boys or surprise anybody with a sequined baseball cap.

So yes, the Festival Blue double serge pencil skirt is a perfect match for a Electric plaid blouse. And nothing goes better with bow tied blouse than a pencil skirt and a pair of pointy pumps that match your purse.

Now do tell, didn't you rather expect a flower skirt in green and yellow tones and a
pair of red Converse?

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My second outfit is even more matchy matchy, with only two colors involved.

Oh, I love the second outfit. The sterling skirt's color looks just wonderful with that teal green, must try that myself the next time I wear that skirt. :)

I definitely veer towards matchy-match, but I have to say I am digging preppy hipster quite a bit since I feel less constrained...allows for the expected (like a classic ladylike pairing) but with unexpected twists (hey, go ahead and add that crazy velour scrunchie). Okay, I wouldn't do a velour scrunchie, but you know what I mean...

Lol, ikwym Dina. You are very good in pairing some funk (like Fedora) with preppy, I like the hipster vibe as well but almost despite myself I am drawn to preppy. I don't mind unexpected but what jcrew does recently just seems random.

I love Joan & David! Those shoes has been resoled couple of times they go with everything and are super comfortable.Your electric plaid pairing gives me an idea to try the blouse with Talbots leather skirt in saddle,

Hi AJC,Well thank you for putting a picture of the sterling skirt with the teal . Definitely going to try that. I find it comfortable for day to day versus the pencil. The electric plaid looks great on you. Thanks to your daughter for the photos and it's now AJC on the street .Great job!

You have beautifully articulated my problem with J. Crew. The pieces individually are lovely, but the way they're styled in the catalog makes me crazy. So you get on with your rebellious self--I'm cheering you on from here, in my matching, all-one-time-of-day, casual-head-to-toe, not-a-sequin-in-sight outfit.

Matchy matchy makes me feel very content and happy.Ok looking at your pics I have just realised something, I am wearing my pencil skirts far too tight which explains why I buy them, then hang them up and never ever wear them.

I finally ordered the Sterling in that color-- waiting for its arrival-- as I have wanted a A line shape. Of course, A lines were on the "meh" list in the Times mag yesterday on that mysteriously busy page. We will ignore this. You look super in the festival blue outfit too.

The Sterling skirt is great you will love it in this color. Meh is good sometimes, I don't want to always wear the wow clothes, they sometimes make the person disappear into the background. I think a-line is flattering on most people.

Didn't you know you were supposed to pair that top with a pair of plaid pants??? J. Crew's plaid-on-plaid is another combo that is getting predictable. I love plaid, but I cannot imagine leaving the house wearing a plaid top with plaid pants (and I don't mean hook-ups with the same plaid). Do they do this to create a buzz about their crazy styling, or do they think it looks good? I love the outfits above, they look great and normal but not predictable either. The electric blue top on its own is unexpected and it doesn't need to be paired with anything crazy, and the color combo in the second outfit is unexpected but very pretty in a why-didn't-I-think-of-that way. Lately, I have pondered how to wear my J. Crew clothing in a non-J. Crew-styled way, so I think you are onto something. I don't want to look like a model in their style guide (well I kind of do want to be tall and thin and beautiful like them, but I don't want to wear their outfits!). I want to wear their clothes but still maintain my own style. Challenging with all the crazy they put out there lately.

Lol cate, you are right! Plaid needs to go with another plaid in jcrewverse. I am going through the same thing, the Jcrew look is so ubiquitous now, I am spotting girls in colorful pencil skirts paired with striped tops and bubble necklaces wherever I look. Or polka dotted shirts with colorful rolled denim and different color heels, rolled sleeves, five bracelets and a leopard clutch. It really makes me run screaming in other direction sometimes.

I love your outfit! I have the same blouse and it's wonderful with that color pencil skirt. I guess I'm out of trend with J.Crew because I continue to not go over the top pattern mixing and still believe in a match of purse color with shoes or shoes with the color in your blouse/top a must. Old habits die hard I suppose. I refuse to do the crazy pattern mixing. I do not want to look like something my dog coughed up.

All the crazy styling got me to push out of my comfort zone of everything with a black pant or skirt or completely matchy matchy. But, enough is enough, some of those ideas are just crazy bad, I've tried some myself. Oh yes, I've been meaning to wear the electric plaid blouse with the electric plaid blouse for total matchy. I will do it this week even though I think I'm supposed to wear each piece with polka dots and leopard pumps.

Well, as I know I have the electric plaid blouse and shoes and invitation clutch. I just can't help to match shoes and clutch whenever I can.The latest in the crazy styling is the Liberty pajama over the Liberty shirt. In the same print! Who wears their pajamas over a shirt? Unless they want us to go out in our pajamas and the shirt underneath would make the outfit less pajam-y? Completely crazy, whoever thought of that one should be under medications and not styling clothes at JCrew!